mayorga wins majority decision over vargas

Mayorga wins 12-round majority decision over Vargas
Associated Press


LOS ANGELES -- The buildup was ugly. The fight was a beauty.

Ricardo Mayorga scored a majority 12-round decision over Fernando Vargas on Friday night, winning on the strength of knockdowns in the first and 11th rounds.

Then, as he had promised, Vargas said his boxing career was over.

"Absolutely, this is the end. This was my last fight," he said.

The dislike the fighters professed for each other seemed sincere from the time the bout was scheduled. They exchanged punches July 11 at the first prefight news conference, and every other gathering was filled with angry, ugly exchanges.

It was a different matter when the fight was over, as the two hugged at a postfight press conference.

"I am not going to take anything away from Mayorga. He was the better man tonight," Vargas said. "Sometimes you have a bad night. That is the way it goes. I thought that Mayorga would be a lot wilder. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case."

Judge Max DeLuca had Mayorga winning 115-111; Glenn Trowbridge had it 114-112 for Mayorga, and David Mendoza scored it 113-113. The Associated Press had it 114-112 for Mayorga.

The former world champions exchanged punches in the middle of the ring through most of the bout, with Vargas growing stronger in the later rounds. But it wasn't enough thanks to the knockdowns.

"Those were flash knockdowns," Vargas said, not that it mattered.

Mayorga began celebrating midway through the final round, thrusting his right fist into the air during brief lulls in the action.

There weren't many of those.

As the 12th round ended, both fighters celebrated as if they won.

But only one could win, and that would be Mayorga.

"Vargas came out with a different style than I anticipated," Mayorga said through a translator. "I adjusted well and was able to land heavy punches. Vargas was faster than I thought, but I stuck with my game plan and put the pressure on him.

"I want to keep fighting a few more times at 154 pounds. You saw the fight. I have a lot of fight left in me."

Mayorga, a 34-year-old three-time world champion from Managua, Nicaragua, raised his record to 28-6-1 with 22 knockouts. Vargas, a two-time world champion from nearby Oxnard who turns 30 on Dec. 7, fell to 26-5 with 22 knockouts.

The bout matched a pair of once-prominent fighters who both entered having been idle for more than 15 months and had each lost two of their previous three fights.

Vargas hadn't fought since July 15, 2006, when he was stopped for the second time in five months by Shane Mosley. Mayorga last fought May 6, 2006, when he was stopped by Oscar De La Hoya.

Both fighters weighed 164 pounds at Thursday's weigh-in -- a startling development for Vargas considering he admittedly ballooned to 264 following his second loss to Mosley.

The WBC Continental Americas super middleweight title was at stake. The bout had been scheduled for Sept. 8, but was delayed after a routine blood test revealed Vargas had an iron deficiency.

The crowd of 10,365 at Staples Center was almost completely pro-Vargas -- no surprise considering Oxnard is some 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Wearing a camouflage robe and trunks, Mayorga was roundly booed as he entered the ring. Vargas, wearing a sombrero, followed to a loud ovation. But once he disrobed, Vargas appeared a little soft around the middle, no doubt a lot heavier than the 164 pounds he weighed a day earlier.

Mayorga went right after Vargas in the first round, throwing a flurry of punches. The crowd began a chant of "Vargas, Vargas," and their man promptly threw a low blow that drew a warning from referee Raul Caiz Sr.

Then, late in the round, Mayorga attacked again, and floored Vargas with a left hand, celebrating before his opponent quickly got to his feet.

Mayorga continued to force the action, and appeared to hurt Vargas early in the third round, opening a cut over his left eye. But much to the crowd's delight, Vargas fought back, and did some damage himself later in the round.

Mayorga said he didn't believe the bout would go beyond three rounds, and Vargas had said six.

They were both wrong.

Mayorga threw a couple of punches after the bell sounded ending the eighth round, and made a gesture of apology before the ninth, which Vargas acknowledged.

The two fought on even terms in the 11th until Mayorga floored Vargas with a right hand in the final seconds.

Vargas' manager, Joe Percora, said his fighter could earn up to $15 million, depending on the number of pay-per-view subscribers. Mayorga is expected to be paid about half of what Vargas gets.

On the undercard, Kermit Cintron successfully defended his IBF welterweight championship by stopping Jesse Feliciano at 1:53 of the 10th round, and Roman Karmazin knocked out Alejandro Garcia at 1:24 of the third round to win the WBA Intercontinental super welterweight title.

Both bouts were scheduled for 12 rounds.

Cintron (146½ pounds), of Reading, Pa., raised his record to 29-1 with 27 knockouts. Feliciano (147 pounds), of Los Angeles, dropped to 15-6-3.

Well ahead on points when the end came, Cintron said he had to overcome an injury.

"I felt a crack on my right hand in the first round," he said. "I had a lot of pain, but I worked through it."

Karmazan (152½ pounds), a Russian now living in Los Angeles, is 36-2-1 with 23 knockouts. Garcia (154 pounds), of Tijuana, Mexico, is 25-3. The end came suddenly, with Karmazan using a quick flurry of punches to floor Garcia, who was counted out by referee Jerry Cantu.

"The hook to the body got me," Garcia said. "I don't think I have been hit that hard before."

The card was promoted by Don King Productions and Main Events in association with Staples Center.